Edison says sex photos were consensual

From news.com 2/6/2009

SEX photos, involving disgraced Hong Kong pop star Edison Chen and a string of starlets, were taken with the women's full consent, Chen has claimed in the latest twist to a celebrity saga involving more than a thousand explicit photos. In an interview with CNN's Talk Asia, the Canadian-born star said the photos, which caused a scandal when they found their way on to the internet last year, had been taken with the agreement of the women.

"Everything was mutual. It was all consensual," he said in the interview, which is planned to air on Wednesday.

"If I have a camera in front of your face and there's a flash, do you know that I'm taking a photo of you? That's as simple as it is."

More than 1300 photos, which show Chen and the women in compromising positions, shocked many in the celebrity-obsessed but culturally conservative city and ruined the careers of some of the actresses and singers involved.

Chen apologised in the interview to one of the actresses, Cecilia Cheung, who had earlier criticised him for not saying sorry.

"I wasn't allowed to talk to her in the initial(stages) because of the police request...I really do feel sorry. I really am sorry to her."

A Hong Kong computer technician was last month jailed for eight-and-a-half months for stealing the photos from Chen's laptop when he sent it for repairs. But it is still unclear how the photos made their way on to the web.

After their internet appearance in February last year, they became one of the most searched-for items in Asia, where Hong Kong celebrities are huge stars.

Soon after, Chen, whose albums and film appearances made him one of Asia's biggest entertainment stars, announced his retirement from the Hong Kong entertainment scene and fled to his childhood home of Canada.

"I was afraid to go anywhere. I was travelling around when I was still in Hong Kong in trunks of taxis, literally, just to get to places," he told CNN.

"I had to be in the trunk for 15 minutes. I didn't even know if I had enough oxygen, to be honest with you.

"Even when I had left Asia and I... went to Canada and America, it took me three months to really get out of the shell that I had put myself in. I mean, I was in darkness for five days.